Historic American cooking in a 21st-century kitchen

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Awards Day

I was mired down this week in a post about colonial butter, which just wasn’t coming together, possibly because I don’t have a butter churner and was reduced to shaking cream in a jar (which works, by the way). Fortunately, I was rescued from this predicament by a nomination for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, which I can now write about instead of butter. Thank you to Lara, inspired author of the wonderful blog Joy, Lovely Joy. If you haven’t visited there, please do!

For those of you unfamiliar with this award, it’s one that is passed from blogger to blogger. There is no awards ceremony, but to accept the award you need to fulfill certain responsibilities. So instead of putting on my gown and jewels, which I don’t like doing anyway, I will now follow the official rules of acceptance, and do the following:

Post the Very Inspiring Blogger image (see above).

Thank and link back to the awesome person who nominated you (done!).

Share 7 things about yourself.

Nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on their blogs to let them know.

Seven things about me:

1. I used to live in Brooklyn and miss it a lot. More trees, less traffic (compared to Manhattan). And as a friend of mine once said, “You can walk down the street in your pajamas and no one would notice or care.” I’m not sure if that’s still true…

2. I was inspired to write about 18th-century food after a trip last year to Colonial Williamsburg. It reminded me of my grandparents’ old house in rural Pennsylvania, where I spent many happy days roaming the woods and helping my grandmother bake. (See About This Blog for more on the origin of Revolutionary Pie.)

3. I used to trap mice for a living. Okay not really, but when I was little I had a job setting traps for an elderly lady on our street who had a major rodent problem. I got $1 a mouse plus a small hourly wage (I did a few other things for her too, like walking her dachshunds and polishing her silver). I’m more of a softie now, and although I could use some freelance work, my mousing days are over.

4. Several decades after the mouse trapping, I worked for WeightWatchers.com, whose recipes are pretty much the antithesis of colonial cooking. How many Weight Watchers Points in the Martha Washington Great Cake? I shudder to think.

5. I watch virtually no television. I stopped when my daughter was a baby and I had no free time, and I never really got started again. Exceptions: Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife, an incredible series about London’s East End in the 1950s.

6. My husband is Korean American, so we eat a lot of Korean food. We rarely cook it, but go to New York City’s Koreatown on West 32nd Street. I can’t handle the really spicy stuff but have grown to love many dishes: kalbi tang, bulgogi, mandoo, jap chae… I’m getting so hungry thinking about this!

7. I went to a girls’ school for many years, and wore a uniform. I got pretty used to that and to this day can’t dress myself very well. I should have become a doctor or UPS driver so I could wear the same outfit every day. Which goes back to my wish (see #1) to live in Brooklyn and just stay in my pajamas.

Thanks for including me on your list. It’s always good to know that someone is reading my blog! And, as you may know, I live in Brooklyn, and I see people in their pajamas quite often. I’m pretty sure, tho, that I’m the only one running around in 18th century clothing! LOL and HUZZAH!
—Carolina of historiccookery.com